Westnofa Furniture • 挪威經典傢俱品牌－Taiwan Loft 的部落格

Westnofa 是全世界第一個知名的北歐挪威傢俱品牌。一般買家都誤以為 Westnofa 是製造商，其實，Westnofa 是一間集合了許多小公司的經銷商；而這也是Westnofa 名稱的由來： WESTern NOrwegian FActories 。

Westnofa is the brand that first introduced the world to contemporary Norwegian furniture, but most consumers mistakenly assume that Westnofa is a manufacturer when it was actually an export company created by a coalition of small makers.The name of the company itself is derived from this fact: WESTern NOrwegian FActories.

由於丹麥在1950年代突然在傢俱界一夕暴紅，所以具有同樣水準但卻尚未具有知名度的挪威木匠們決定要團結起來，提高挪威傢俱的知名度，這也就是Westnofa 最早的目標。Westnofa 對傢俱界最大的貢獻就是：傢俱可以設計成方便運送的「平整包裝」！

The original goal of Westnofa was to market modern, high-end furniture from Norway in response to the 1950’s global rise in popularity of Scandinavian design in general, but primarily Denmark and to a slightly lesser extent Sweden.Westnofa aided international furniture industry growth by being the first to promote innovative furniture that could be disassembled and flat-packed for economical shipping (the iconic Siesta chair & ottoman designed by Ingmar Relling is a prime example -- shown above: leather lowback lounge / below: highback armchair).

The initial marketing efforts of Westnofa paved the way for the rise of the Ekornes Stressless line of lounge chairs and later, the cheap mass-produced DIY Scandinavian furniture from companies like IKEA.Unfortunately for the Westnofa coalition, a number of smaller companies involved couldn’t survive the early 1980’s global recession.

Westnofa 成功的行銷幫助了其他北歐家具，例如：Ekornes Stressless 的休閒椅，以及後來價格親民的DIY北歐家具IKEA。不幸的是，定位在中高價位的 Westnofa 在1980的金融海嘯中還是撐不下去了。

The "Planet Chair" // 地球椅 One of Westnofa's more recent & most iconic modern designs

Fortunately for furniture collectors, the widespread success of Westnofa in the 1950-60s means that many of their signature beech bentwood designs are readily available on the secondary market, and at reasonable prices compared to their Danish counterparts.Some of the companies that survived also continue to keep in production the design classics, including the Siesta line (now made by Rybo).

對家具收藏者而言，和許多丹麥經典家具比較起來，Westnofa 的經典設計價格相對比較合理，也較容易在二手市場尋獲。